Rumor: Apple to Ship Multitouch Mice With New iMacs Soon

Apple may soon introduce a mouse featuring multitouch technology, like that seen in its iPhones, iPods and MacBook trackpads.

Sporting a touch-sensitive housing, the new mouse will do away with the roller ball on the current Mighty Mouse (pictured above), sources told AppleInsider. The rumored multitouch mouse might apply the inertia feedback seen in iPods and iPhones, whereas scrolling speed accelerates or decelerates in response to how the user touches the surface.

Presumably an Apple multitouch mouse would function similarly to the unibody MacBook trackpads, which detect multitouch gestures. On new MacBooks, tapping the trackpad with two fingers triggers a right-click function, for example; this rumored multitouch mouse might copy this behavior. Also, for a mouse, we would expect a multitouch gesture to replace scrolling in different directions, and perhaps there will be special gestures that trigger Exposé commands as well.

Apple’s new mouse may be released with new iMacs, AppleInsider’s sources said. The popular iMac desktops were last refreshed in March, and Apple typically upgrades them every seven months. That would suggest new iMacs — perhaps packaged with multitouch mice — will hit stores very soon.